Gone to the Gray side

In a world where dollars talk louder than votes, and big-money campaign donors broker power and buy policy, one man stands between rotting corruption and precious but endangered democracy. He is Arnold Schwarzenegger -- plain-spoken, angry, uncompromising.

“The biggest problem we have is that California is being run by special interests,” he declares. “I will go to Sacramento and clean house. ... I don’t need to take money from anybody. I have plenty of money myself. I will make the decisions for the people.”

He wages an epic battle against the forces of Grayness. He goes head to head with the most prodigious political fundraiser in the history of the land. He triumphs. And now he reaches down to the hulk of his defeated foe, removes the dark mask that imbued its wearer with evil power, holds it up to the light -- and puts it on.

Fade to black.

Gov. Schwarzenegger, the champion of the people against the special interests, the man who was so rich he could say no to campaign donors seeking favors, recently surpassed former Gov. Gray Davis as the all-time top campaign fundraiser in California history, according to an Associated Press analysis. And he did it more quickly than Davis. The more than $125 million that Schwarzenegger has pulled into his political committees comes not from people who just think he’s a great guy, despite the ridiculous explanations offered by his aides. It comes from the same special interests he campaigned against and that have made the purchase of political access and influence a dark art.

Lost are the twin promises of the Schwarzenegger era: responsible budgeting, to steer clear of the type of financial disaster into which Davis led the state; and an end to the link between campaign contributions and official decision-making.

“Here’s how it works,” he once said in a campaign ad. “Money goes in. Favors go out. The people lose. We need to send a message. Game over.”

So did our action star not really mean it when he said he would change the rules of the game? Or was he just weaker, in will or in political muscle, than he let on?

Fade in. California’s future is being bought and sold. Political money is both the force that seduces our hero and the kryptonite that cripples him. Can he break free? Does he want to? The people watch -- not from comfortable seats while munching popcorn and sipping overpriced soda, a safe distance from the on-screen action, but from their own crumbling political house. They hope rescue comes before the picture ends.